Sannazaro, Arcadia, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1534, Aldine Binding of smooth brown morocco, large paper, Grolier's copy?
Session begins in
June 25, 02:00 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Bid
3,500 USD
Lot Details
Description
Sannazaro, Jacopo. Arcadia del Sannazaro. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1534
A rare large-paper copy of Sannazaro’s Sonetti e Canzoni. "Fahy's article on large-paper Aldines states that there was a change in the imposition of these copies in 1535; however, this book seems to follow the production methods in use from 1535, as it has a wider outer margin that indicates the use of a half-sheet of royal paper, though the pinholes in the lower inner margin that Fahy mentions as indicative of this imposition are not visible." (Sotheby's, O'Brien sale, cf. Fahy, La Bibliofilia 106, p.165).
Large-paper copies of Aldines from this period are exceptionally scarce. Ebert briefly mentions their existence, though without details, and the only example listed in Fahy’s census is the Chatsworth copy of Sannazaro. Renouard also notes a grand papier Arcadia bound for Grolier, though he may have conflated it with the 1514 edition now in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
The present copy can be linked to Jean Grolier (1489?–1565), one of the preeminent collectors of large-paper Aldines. A 1534 copy of Valerius Maximus and 1540 copy of Pliny share the same characteristic Grolieresque illumination to the Aldine device.
8vo (182 x 112 mm). Italic type, 29 lines. collation: A-L8 M4: 91 leaves (of 92, lacking M4). Illuminated Aldine device to title- page, guide letters in initial spaces. (Title-page lightly spotted and toned, B1 leaf of text supplied from another copy, marginal fold to outer edge of M3, area of dampstaining from L4 onwards.)
binding: Seventeenth- or eighteenth-century speckled calf (186 x 116 mm), gilt fillets, spine gilt, gilt edges, marbled pastedowns. (Joints cracked, front endleaf extended, preliminary blank clipped at corner, corners bumped.)
provenance: Possibly Jean Grolier de Servières (1489?-1565), vicomte d'Aguisy — William O'Brien (1832-1899), ex libris — Milltown Park College, Dublin, ex libris and bequest label — Sotheby's London, 7 June 2017, lot 303. acquisition: Purchased at Sotheby's via Halwas. references: UCLA 272; Renouard 112/5; Edit16 27223; USTC 854665; Conor Fahy, "Royal-paper copies of Aldine editions, 1494-1500" in Studies in Bibliography 57 (2005/2006), pp. 85-113 (p.109)
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